Addicts and Angels: Help the Armstrong Family raise funds for a wheelchair accessible van for their son

It only takes an instant, and your life can change forever.

*Photo by Sabeel Ahammed from Pexels

The Armstrongs were your typical Canadian family; two parents, 3 kids, 2 girls and a boy. The kids are navigating their way through university, growing up into young adults and making their parents proud. Matt, their son, was a hockey star in the making with a bright future ahead of him.

Matt and his friends before the accident

On December 8, 2016, that all changed.

It was a typical snowy Canadian night when tragedy struck, and Matt was involved in a terrible car accident. He sustained traumatic injuries that he is still recovering from, reducing his function and mobility drastically. The severity of his injuries has meant that Matt has been unable to return home to be with his family; he’s been living in different hospitals and rehabilitation centers since that day. But with the strength of his family and friends around him, and his own incredible drive, Matt continues to work tremendously hard in rehabilitation and physical therapy, exceeding expectations despite the many challenges he faces.

Matt in hospital, being his awesome self

The Armstrong family are friends of my own family – my father and Matt’s have been friends and work colleagues for many years. When we heard of this accident, our hearts broke for Matt, his sisters and his parents. It’s easy to picture your own son or sibling in the same position, and that has become a huge driver for me to spread the word about this amazing family, who have shown such fortitude and hope in the face of adversity. And now, it’s our turn to help them achieve a small piece of normalcy, despite everything they have been through.

Matt’s amazing friends have taken it upon themselves to create aGoFundmecampaign to help the family obtain one thing that will help improve Matt’s quality of life; a wheelchair accessible van to help get him from place to place, and, most importantly, home. From the campaign website:

“Matt is a fun-loving, adventurous guy who enjoys being with his friends and family but due to the severity of his injuries he has not been able to head back home. We are hoping to raise enough money to purchase a wheelchair accessible van for the Armstrong family, along with the necessary renovations that need to be made to their home so we can finally allow Matt to transition back to his normal life.”

Think of the things we all do every day that we take for granted: getting out of bed on our own, getting out of the house to run boring errands, or heading out and having fun with the people we care about. With all of our help, Matthew Armstrong can have the chance to do at least some of those things, and his family can hopefully get him home again.

Nadia Elkharadly

Nadia Elkharadly is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of Addicted Magazine. Her myriad of addictions include music, fashion, travel, technology, boxing and trying to make the world a better place. Nadia is also a feminist, an animal lover, and a neverending dreamer. Keep up with her on social media through @thenadiae.